http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/573583/upm-to-field-test-wood-based-diesel-fuel-in-urban-bus-traffic

UPM will start field tests of its wood-based diesel fuel in urban buses in cooperation with Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) and the VTT Technical Research Centre. The new round of tests with UPM BioVerno fuel will start in October and run for at least one year.

The heavy duty vehicle field tests will focus on investigating UPM's renewable diesel in terms of fuel functionality in bus engines, their emissions and fuel consumption compared to fossil diesel. The tests will be done with four identical buses that have low emissions and efficient engines.

UPM's renewable diesel, known as UPM BioVerno, is produced from crude tall oil, the residue of the pulp industry.

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http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2015/10/26/european-investment-bank-may-invest-in-biodiesel-plant-in-croatia/

The European Investment Bank is currently evaluating a EUR38 million investment in a EUR50 million biodiesel project in Croatia.

The project consists of the construction and operation of a biodiesel plant that will produce renewable energy fuel mainly from used cooking oil and animal fat. The plant will certainly contribute to the national renewable energy targets in the transport sector.

The facility will be located at a port near a nature protection area. The environmental impact assessment was already completed in 2013 and all main environmental permits have been granted.

The promoter has been assessed by the EIB as a private company but is yet to be named.

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http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2015/10/15/bellevue-boosts-biodiesel-blend-for-city-fleet-and-saves-money-too/

The city of Bellevue in Washington recently announced a new fuel mixture in city vehicles that will help save  more than $25,000 a year and reduce emissions.

The city's new mixture, a blend of 80% diesel and 20% biodiesel, is designed to reduce vehicle life-cycle emissions. Bellevue has 240 diesel vehicles, all of which are using the new B20 blend. The city was previously using a 15 percent biodiesel blend.

The changed mixture of fuel is part of Bellevue's Environmental Stewardship Initiative, a push to make the city more green and sustainable while saving taxpayers money. As part of the Initiative, the city has also replaced half of its fleet with hybrids or electric vehicles since 2009.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-15/ethanol-eis/6855740?section=nsw

A Korean company, Dongmun Greentec, wants to build the $77m ethanol plant at six kilometes south-west of Deniliquin in Australia. The plant would be able to produce 115 megalitres of ethanol a year, by operating around the clock to process locally grown wheat.

An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released on the project says it would take up to 16 months to build the plant. The EIS also estimates the plant would inject $5m into the economy each year through wages, $1m through the use of local tradespeople and $50m through the purchase of grain.

The EIS says it would need 870 megalitres of water during operation with more than half coming from an on-site wastewater treatment plant.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-015-9688-9

A research team, led by Bruno Barbosa of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal, evaluated the tolerance and phytoremediation capacity of giant reed (Arundo donax) and several Miscanthus species in soils contaminated with heavy metals.

The giant reed biomass production was found to be negatively affected under 600 mg Chromium per Kg of soil. Meanwhile, Zn contamination significantly reduced M. x giganteus production but not M. sinensis or M. floridulus yields. However, M. × giganteus  was found to be the most productive in terms of biomass production.

Giant reed and the M. giganteus species can be considered as candidates for phytoextraction of heavy metals due to high metal accumulation and the high biomass produced. Both are well suited for prevention of heavy metal contamination as they inhibit leaching of heavy metal.

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http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-015-9680-4

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a biofuel crop known attacked by the disease switchgrass rust caused by Puccinia emaculata. Virginia Sykes of the University of Tennessee and her team examined the impact of switchgrass rust on ethanol yield.

Naturally infected leaves from switchgrass grown in 2010 and 2012 were categorized as exhibiting low, medium, or high infection based on chlorosis and sporulation. Samples from 2010 underwent simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) to measure ethanol yield. Meanwhile, the ethanol yield for 2012 samples was estimated using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

Analysis revealed that the effect of disease level were significant and caused a large difference in ethanol yield. In SSF, ethanol was reduced by 35 % in samples with medium infections and by 55 % in samples with high infections. In the NIRS dataset, estimated ethanol was reduced by 10 % in samples with medium infections and by 21 % in samples with high disease symptoms.